The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1887-05-19
WHO IS OLD SATAN?
Facts About Demons and Devils
Among Christians and
Heathens.

Satan stood
Unterrifed and like comet burned
That fires the length of Ophincus huge.
In the Arctic eky, and from his horrld halr
Shakes pestilence and war.
Paradise Lost Book H., 707-ll.
Whoever and whatever the devil may be
he is most important parsonage. His
tory, poetry, romance, mythology and art
all furnish abundant evidence of the truth
of this statement. The grandest of epics
the greatest of paintings, the most famous
of theatrical plays, all have him
as their central figure. Not
to speak of his notable achieve
ments as told in the Books of Books, which
have been the theme of theological dis
cussion from time immemorial, his acts,
or acts imputed to him, are recorded in
countless volumes.
The devil made Milton famous, and con-
tributed in no small degree to the renown
of Shakespeare; Mephistopheles, who was
either the devil or his agent, is the hero
of Goethe's masterpieces; while the place
where the devil is supposed to abide was
to- Virgil and Dante the foundation upon
which their muses. built structure "more
enduring than brass, more splendid than
gems of the Orient"
81 WISH" said downtown book
seller to a reporter the other day,
shat the devil would follow the
example set by some of our public
men, and write his autobiography
Any publisher would give liberal sum
for the copyright and handsome royalty
or every volume sold. We know nothing
about the devil-that is. nothing definite.
His history would be one of the most
entertaining ever written. Who would
not like to know when Satan was born,
who his parents were, how he passed his
boyhood, what were the achievements of
his ripper years, and all the other facts
that make up a standard biography. De-
foe was the only writer who ever at.
tempted such a work, and he could
scarcely be considered an authority on
the subject"
The theme is a vast one;
but any author except his
Satanic majesty himself at
tempting the work suggested would be be-
wildered at the outset by the necessity of
solving number of difficult questions
like the following: Is there one devil
only? Is he omnipresent, omniscent, or
is he limited to his own domain and re-
stricted in his powers? In short, who and
what is the devil, and what is his nature
and character?
We have the best of grounds for be-
lleving that the devil was once respecta-
BILE. At least he kept good company, and
was not then described as a mischief =
maker. "Now there was day." states
Of 10 I - ,,i; \
'when the sons of God came to present
themselves before the Lord and Satan
came also among them" He was asked
whence he came, and replied, "From
going to and fro in the earth, and from
walking up and down it." That is, he was
tramp. He couldn't have followed the
road long or his companions would GER
tainly have been ashamed of him.
Job was rich man and maintained
magnificent establishment; he was also
upright and honest. Satan tried to con-
vert him to his theories, but Job could not
be moved either to swear or lie; and
though his patience was nightly tried by
the adversary, he grew both in wisdom and
strength and lived 40 years after.
The Satan of the Old Testament does
not appear to have been being of great
power.
Hewas first servant, then prosecutor
then confidence man. Popular ideas of
his character are drawn from Milton's
terrible pictures of him and not from the
Scriptural record. There were other
devils than Satan, however. The latter
appears to have been accorded the posi-
ton of chief of the tribe and ruler of the
realm of darkness as soon he had demon
strated his capacity for the place. The
date of his accession to power is not at
hand.